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Dr. Syed Mehboob
Senior Research Editor
The News Lark, political and economic analyst
For the development. Progress and prosperity of a nation, pragmatic, seasoned, far-sighted leadership is very important. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusmo is a man of great commitment, a businessman, a retired military official of high rank who is serving his beloved country as its eighth president since 2024.
His Excellency Prabowo Subianto is a highly experienced figure who served as the twenty-sixth Minister of Defence under President Joko Widodo from 2019 to 2024 for seven years. He is Indonesia’s third president with a military background after Suharto and Susilo Bambang and is the oldest first-term president in Indonesia’s history. He graduated from the Indonesian Military Academy in 1970 and primarily served in the Special Forces (Kopassus) until he was appointed to lead the Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) in 1998. Prabowo joined Joko Widodo’s cabinet as his minister of defence for the 2019 to 2024 period. On 10 October, 2021, Gerindra announced Prabowo as their candidate in the 2024 presidential election. On 12 August 2022, Prabowo accepted Gerindra’s nomination. He was declared victorious in the election on 14 February 2024, unofficially, while he was officially declared the winner on 20th March 2024 by the General Election Commission ( KPU) . On 22 April, 2024, he was sworn in as the president of Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world in terms of population.
Prabowo belongs to a highly qualified middle-class family. His father, SumitroDiojohadikusumo who was an economist and served former President Sukarno’s minister for the economy and Suharto’s minister for research and technology. His mother is Dora Marie Sigar. His brother Hashim is a prominent and wealthy businessman. Prabowo studied at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Prabowo also attended and graduated from the American School in London. Prabowo was a talented, passionate student during his academic life.
Prabowo enrolled in the Indonesian Military Academy, which is called Akademi Militer Nasional, in 1970. He graduated in 1974 with others who gained senior leadership positions. In 1976, he served in the Indonesian Army Special Forces Command, which is called “ Kopassus,” and was assigned as the commander of Group 1 Komando Pasukan Sandhi Yudha ( Kopasandha), which was one of the Indonesian Army’s Nanggala Commando units in East Timor. In 1985, Prabowo attended the Advanced Infantry Officers Course at Fort Bragg, in the United States, for Commando training. In 1996, Prabowo led Operation Mapenduma in the mountains of Papua. The goal was to release eleven scientific researchers who had been taken hostage by the Free Papua Movement ( OPM) . Five among the eleven researchers were Indonesians, four British, one Dutch, and his pregnant wife. Two of the Indonesian males were killed by terrorists before the operation.
20 March 1998 was a historic day when Prabowo was appointed as head of the twenty-seven-thousand-strong Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad), which Suharto had commanded in 1965. During his military career, he received the nickname “08” and “ Pandu” ( lit scout) from the Kopassus and the Kostrad, respectively.
After he retired from the military, he joined his brother as a businessman and started a business of paper pulp and a plantation company based in Mangkajang, East Kalimantan. Today, Prabowo’s Nusantara Group controls twenty-seven companies in Indonesia and abroad. Prabowo’s companies include Nusantara Energy in the oil and gas sector, Tidar Kerinci Agung ( Palm oil) and Jaladari Nusantara ( fishery industry). Being a successful businessman, Prabowo has a vision to make Indonesia an economic power and has taken many initiatives in this regard. Economic development and investment in Indonesia are one of the top priorities of his government. As an ex-military leader, he also wanted Indonesia to be very strong in defence.
He is also a strong supporter and advocate of farmers and was elected President of HKTI on 5 December 2004. The Indonesian Farmers’ Association (HKTI) was established in 1973 to advocate for the farmers’ rights. Prabowo was also a strong supporter and advocate of traders. He was elected president of the Indonesian Traditional Market Traders Association ( APPSI), which is a non-profit organization advocating for the welfare of traders in Indonesia’s traditional markets. As chairman of the organization, Prabowo often called on the government to limit hypermarkets by regulating their distance so as not to harm small traders.
Pencak Silat is one of Indonesia’s traditional martial arts. The Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (IPSI) oversees the regulation of the sport in Indonesia, develops athletes, and organizes tournaments. Prabowo was elected as president of the IPSI in 2004 and was re-elected in 2012 for a third consecutive term.
At the 2011 SEA Games in Jakarta, Pencak Silat won the overall championship by winning nine of the eighteen events competed.The IPSI’s achievements under Prabowo’s chairmanship were noted at the 2018 Asian Games, where Pencak Silat succeeded in contributing to fourteen of thirty-one gold medals won by the Indonesian contingent.Prabowo is also the president of the International Pencak Silat Federation (IPSF).
In February 2008, Prabowo’s inner circle, including Fadli Zon, Muchdi Purwopranjono, and Prabowo’s younger brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, along with a few others, established the Gerindra Party. Prabowo served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Central Leadership Council (DPP). He was later appointed general chairman of the party after the death of the party’s previous chairman Suhardi in 2014.
On 7 January 2023, Prabowo launched his third presidential campaign for the 2024 presidential election. He was running as president, together with Gibran Rakabuming Raka (the eldest son of Joko Widodo, the former President of Indonesia), as his vice-presidential candidate. Both he and Gibran registered at the KPU office on 25 October 2023 with the support of Gerindra, Golkar, PAN, PBB, the Democratic Party, Gelora Party, Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), and Garuda Party. Both he and Gibran’s candidacies were challenged in the Constitutional Court due to age requirements. In Prabowo’s case, a lawsuit was filed against him due to his old age (Prabowo was 71 at the time of announcing his candidacy) and having announced his candidacy for the third time. The Supreme Court ruled to reject the lawsuit.
In November 2023, Prabowo called for “rebalancing” where, in the past decades, Indonesia looked to the West; now they should learn from the East like China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Prabowo entertained the idea of Indonesia joining BRICS if it is advantageous for Indonesia’s economy, citing BRICS’ nature as an economic bloc, not a geopolitical one.
On 14 February 2024, in an unofficial report, Prabowo succeeded in leading three voting lines by getting 58% of the vote.Prabowo went on to win the quick count conducted by all surveys and called for unity as he pledged to be president for all Indonesians and will form a government that will be led by “the best sons and daughters of Indonesia Despite this, he also told his supporters to calmly but cautiously wait for the official results from KPU.
On 20 March 2024, the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced Prabowo’s victory, having received over 96 million votes. Prabowo and his vice-presidential candidate, Gibran Rakabuming, were sworn in on 20 October 2024.
During the Israel-Gaza conflict in 2023, Prabowo called out his disappointment with the Western countries that seemed silent when they saw civilians and children becoming victims of war and blasted the West for a perceived double standard on human rights. He has donated Rp. 5 billion of his personal wealth to the Palestinian people and joined President Jokowi, Secretary of State Pratikno, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, and Ambassador to Indonesia from Palestine Zuhair Al-Shun in sending off 51.5 tonnes of aid delivered by the Indonesian Air Force.He had also communicated with the Egyptian defence minister Mohamed Ahmad Zaki to allow the passage of the Indonesian Navy hospital ship KRI Dr. Radjiman Wedyodingrat to dock near El Arish, Sinai, in order to deliver further aid for Palestine. ( Continued )